Chapter 10 Flashcards
1
Q
gene–environment interaction
A
situation in which the effects of genes depend on the environment in which they are expressed
-how are jeans and environmental factors and surroundings interact to shape who we are
2
Q
Nature via nurture
A
Genetic predispositions can drive us to select and create particular environments that influence our behaviour, leading to the mistaken appearance of a pure effect of nature.
3
Q
Gene expression:
A
Some genes “turn on” only in response to specific environmental triggers.
4
Q
Epigenetics
A
Whether genes are active is regulated day-by-day and moment-by-moment environmental conditions.
5
Q
cross-sectional design
A
research design that examines people of different ages at a single
point in time. In a cross-sectional design, we obtain a “snapshot” of each person at a single age; we assess some people when they’re 24, some when they’re 47, others when they’re 63, and so on. The major problem with cross-sectional designs is that they don’t control for cohort effects
6
Q
cohort effect
A
Groups who lived during one period can differ in some systematic way from groups who lived during another period (tech-savvy)
7
Q
longitudinal design
A
research design that examines
development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over
time. Rather than obtaining a snapshot of each person at only one point in time, we obtain the equivalent of a series of home movies taken across multiple ages. This design allows us to examine true developmental effects: changes over time within individuals as
a consequence of growing older
-costly
-time consuming
-attrition: participants dropping out of the study before it’s completed
8
Q
Bidirectional Influences:
A
Children’s development influences their experiences, but their experiences also influence their development.
• As people age, they can increasingly select their own environments
9
Q
Germinal Stage:
A
Zygote divides over and over again to form a blastocyst during the germinal stage – ball of identical cells early in pregnancy that haven’t yet begun to take on any specific function in a body part. The blastocyst keeps growing as
cells continue to divide for the first week and a half or so after fertilization
10
Q
Embryonic Stage:
A
Once cells start to assume different functions, the blastocyst becomes an embryo. The embryonic stage continues from the second to the eighth week of development, during which limbs, facial features, and major organs (including the heart, lungs, and brain) begin to take
shape. During this stage, many things can go wrong in fetal development. Spontaneous
miscarriages often occur when the embryo doesn’t form properly
11
Q
Fetal Stage:
A
By the ninth week, the major organs are established, and the heart begins to beat. This final milestone is called the fetal stage because it’s the point at which the embryo becomes a fetus. The fetus’s “job” for the rest of the pregnancy is physical maturation. The last
third of pregnancy in particular is devoted almost entirely to “bulking up.”
12
Q
Brain Development
A
The human brain begins to develop 18 days after fertilization. Unlike most organs, which are completely formed by birth and continue to grow only in size, our brains continue to develop well into adolescence and probably even early adulthood
13
Q
OBSTACLES TO NORMAL FETAL DEVELOPMENT.
A
1) premature birth: Premature infants are those born at fewer than 36 weeks gestation, the point in pregnancy at which infants can typically survive on their own is
around 25 weeks
(2) low birth weight: Low-birth-weight babies are defined as less than 5½ pounds (most dangerous)
3) exposure to hazardous environmental influences: Teratogens are environmental factors that can affect prenatal development negatively. They run the from drugs and alcohol to chicken pox and X-rays. Even anxiety and depression in the mother are potential teratogens because they alter the fetus’s chemical and physiological environment
fetal alcohol syndrome: a condition resulting from high levels
of prenatal alcohol exposure, causing learning disabilities and physical growth
retardation, facial malformations, and behavioral disorders
4. biological influences resulting from genetic disorders or errors in cell duplication during cell division: Genetic disruptions can be from disorders (e.g. Down Syndrome) or random errors in cell division
14
Q
rooting reflex:
A
eating. If we softly stroke a hungry infant’s cheek, she’ll automatically
turn her head toward our hand and begin casting about with her mouth, eagerly seeking a nipple to suck. These reflexes help keep infants alive;
15
Q
motor behavior
A
bodily motion that occurs as a result
of self-initiated force that moves the
bones and muscles (through train and error) (reaching and walking)
The major motor milestones during development include sitting up,
crawling, standing unsupported, and walking.
16
Q
Factors influencing motor behaviour:
A
Influenced by physical maturity as well as cultural and parenting practices. Regardless of when they occur, developmental milestones are always achieved in the same sequence
17
Q
Reflexes
A
automatic motor behaviours
18
Q
Adolescence
A
Transition between childhood and adulthood
• Puberty (the achievement of sexual maturation resulting in the potential to reproduce) is largely due to that hormonal release
• Estrogens and androgens are present in both sexes, though the ratios are different—estrogens higher in women, androgens higher in men
• Genes and environment influence puberty onset
19
Q
primary sex characteristics:
A
physical features such as the reproductive organs and genitals that distinguish the sexes
20
Q
secondary sex characteristics
A
a sex-differentiating characteristic that doesn’t relate directly to reproduction, such as breast enlargement in females and deepening voices in males
21
Q
Menarche
A
Menarche (start of menstration) and spermarche (first ejaculation)
22
Q
post hoc fallacy
A
false assumption that because one
event occurred before another event; it must have caused that event
23
Q
Theories of Cognitive Development:
A
- Stage-like changes in understanding (sudden spurts in knowledge, followed by periods of stability vs more continuous (smoother and gradual learning process))
- Domain general: when children learn a new cognitive skill (thinking, reasoning), it affects all areas of cognitive function vs domain-specific (children’s cognitive skills develop independently and at different rates across
different domains, such as reasoning, language, and counting.) - Principal source of learning (physical experience (moving around the world), social interaction (how parents and peers engage with them) or biological developments (innate programming of certain mental capacities)
24
Q
Jean Piaget:
A
Piaget was a stage theorist. Jean Piaget was a psychologist who believed that children go through different stages of development, where their thinking changes in big ways. These changes happen at specific points, called transition points, followed by times when their understanding of the world becomes stable.Piaget’s theory is domain general, meaning it applies to all areas of thinking and not just one specific area. He believed that children’s thinking changes because they want to keep a balance between their experiences (what happens in the world) and their understanding of it. This balance is called equilibration.
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Piaget’s 4 Stages of Development
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years):
Babies don’t think about things beyond what they immediately experience.
They don’t understand object permanence, meaning they don’t know that things still exist when they can’t see them. For example, if you hide a toy, the baby might think it’s gone forever.
Their learning comes from interacting with the world through their senses and actions.
The major milestone of this stage is mental representation—the ability to think about things that are absent from immediate surroundings, such as remembering previously encountered objects.
Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years):
Children can now think beyond just the present moment, but their thinking is still limited.
They are egocentric, meaning they have trouble seeing things from other people’s perspectives.
They lack conservation, meaning they don’t understand that if you change the appearance of something, the amount or quantity doesn’t change. For example, if you pour the same amount of liquid into a taller glass, they might think it’s a bigger amount.
They start to use symbols, like language or drawing, to represent ideas (for example, pretending a banana is a phone).
This stage is called “preoperational” because children are unable to perform what Piaget referred to as mental operations. Although they have mental
representations, they can’t perform mental transformations (“operations”) on them.
Concrete Operations Stage (7 to 11 years):
Children can now do mental transformations—thinking about things in their head, like sorting objects or imagining actions.
But, they can only do these transformations with real, physical things they can see and touch. They can’t yet think about abstract ideas.
For example, they can sort coins by size or arrange toy soldiers in a battle, but they can’t think hypothetically about things that aren’t real or right in front of them.
Formal Operations Stage (11 years to adulthood):
Now, children (and adults) can think about hypothetical situations and abstract concepts.
They can reason logically about things that aren’t present, like considering if-then scenarios. For example, "If I’m late for school, I’ll get in trouble."
They can also start thinking about deep, abstract topics, such as the meaning of life or the concept of justice.
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assimilation
Piagetian process of absorbing new experience into current knowledge
structures. Ex: a child knows what a dog is, but when they see a cat for the 1st time they might assume it's a type of dog because it has the same characteristics (4 legs, fur, a tail). The child is assimilating the new experience of seeing a cat by fitting it into their current idea of what a dog is.
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Accommodation
For example, after realizing that a cat is not a dog, the child would adjust their understanding of animals and create a new category for cats. Now they know that dogs and cats are different kinds of animals.
Accommodation involves changing your existing beliefs or ideas to make room for new experiences.
When one can no longer assimilate new information, accommodation occurs – the process of altering a belief to make it more compatible with the experience. This process of
assimilating and accommodating in tandem ensures a state of harmony between the world
and mind of the child—equilibration.
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Vygotsky
Theory focused on social and cultural influences
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Scaffolding
Vygotskian learning mechanism
in which parents provide initial
assistance in children’s learning
but gradually remove structure as
children become more competent
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Zone of proximal development
phase of learning during which children can benefit from instruction
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Cognitive landmarks
Physical Reasoning: Babies learn about how objects behave.
Categorization: Kids learn to group objects together and understand how they relate.
Self-Concept: Kids start to understand they are separate from others and that other people can have different beliefs.
Numbers and Mathematics: Kids learn to count and understand numbers, and this ability develops at different rates depending on culture.
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Cognitive Changes in Adolescence
Frontal lobes don’t fully mature until late adolescence or early adulthood – implications for impulse control and risk-taking behaviour • However, risk-taking behavior is also affected by other factors than impulse control – More opportunities when young – Different evaluation or risk (know, but do not care)
• Personal fable; feeling unique and special
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Cognitive Function in Late Adulthood
Many aspects of cognition decline
– Free recall of information
– Overall speed of processing
• But many stay stable or increase
– Cued recall and recognition
– Remembering suitable information
– Vocabulary and knowledge tasks
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Stranger anxiety
a fear of strangers developing at eight or nine months of age
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temperament
basic emotional style that appears
early in development and is largely
genetic in origin
Three major styles
– Easy (40%)
– Difficult (10%)
– Slow-to-warm up (15%)
• Approximately 10% of children may be behaviourally inhibited (scardy cats) -KAGAN
36
Attachment
Emotional connection we share with those to whom we feel closest
Imprinting: A process where baby geese (and some other animals) automatically form a bond with the first moving object they see. Humans don’t do this, but we do form strong bonds with caregivers.
Sensitive Periods: Humans have windows of time when certain experiences, like bonding with caregivers, are especially important for development.
Impact of Early Attachment: Children who are separated from their caregivers too early can face emotional and social difficulties later in life.
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Contact comfort
positive emotions afforded by touch
Harlow found that although baby monkeys routinely went to wire mothers for milk, they spent much more of their time with terry cloth mothers. In addition, when Harlow exposed monkeys to a scary stimulus, like a toy robot playing a drum,they were much more likely to run to the terry cloth mother and cling to her for reassurance. Harlow termed this phenomenon
Rutter’s studies of Romanian orphans
– Longer stay in low-quality orphanages is associated with poorer outcomes
– Shorter stay (adopted out early, 6 months) is associated with better outcomes
38
Attachment styles
Refers to how infants react when separated from primary caregiver –
Strange Situation task
• Show large cultural differences
• Subject to the mono-operations bias – Drawing conclusions based on a single measure
• Lack of reliability on the Strange Situation • Changing styles over brief times
• Different styles for mom vs dad (40% of inf
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Secure attachment
When a stranger enters, the baby seeks mom for comfort. If mom leaves, the baby gets upset but is happy and calm when mom returns.
Key idea: The baby sees mom as a secure base—a safe, supportive figure they can rely on when things feel uncertain or scary.
40
Insecure avoidant attachment
They don’t care much when a stranger enters or when mom leaves. They also don’t show much emotion when mom comes back.
Key idea: The baby tends to avoid seeking comfort from mom and acts independent, often because they’ve learned that mom might not be there when needed.
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Insecure, anxious attachment
The baby won’t explore on their own without mom’s help and gets upset when a stranger enters. They feel very upset when mom leaves and can’t decide how to react when mom returns—sometimes they want to be close to her, but also push her away when she picks them up.
Key idea: The baby feels anxious or unsure about whether mom will be there for them, leading to mixed emotions and confusion when mom comes back.
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Disorganized attachment
The baby reacts in confusing ways—sometimes they act dazed, confused, or even freeze when mom leaves or comes back. Their responses to toys, strangers, and mom are inconsistent.
Key idea: The baby shows confusion or uncertainty in their behavior, likely because they’ve experienced unpredictable or inconsistent care.
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Strange situation
The Strange Situation is a labora-tory procedure designed to evaluate attachment style by observing one-year-olds’ reactions to being separated from and then reunited with their primary caregivers, usually their mothers
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Parenting styles
Permissive – tend to be lenient, little discipline, very affectionate
• Authoritarian – Very strict, punishing, little affection
• Authoritative – Supportive but set clear and firm limits
• Uninvolved – neglectful and ignoring
May not matter as much as once thought, as long as an average expectable environment is provided (basic needs are met)
• What matters most is if the parenting style is are toxic (abusive) or a child is genetically predisposed towards impulsivity or violent behaviour
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Gender identity
individuals’ sense of being male or female
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Gender role
a set of behaviors that tend to be
associated with being male or female
Biological influences and social influences (e.g. endorsements, expectations) also play a role in gender development
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Transgender
gender identity does not match their biological sex
Transgender children whose families and school settings have supported their gender identities are psychologically well
• Those who do not have social support for their gender identities report high levels of depression and anxiety
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Identity development
Developing an identity (who we are, our goals and priorities) is a main challenge of adolescence
• Erikson developed a 8 stage comprehensive model – Composed of a series of stages, each characterized by a psychosocial crisis (dilemma concerning an individual’s relations to others) – Influential, but limited support
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Adolescence Erickson
Identity versus role confusion
Achievement of a stable and
satisfying sense of role and
direction.
holds crucial implications for later in development. If we don’t solve the challenges posed
by earlier stages, we’ll experience difficulty solving the challenges posed by later stages.
Although Erikson’s theorizing has been influential, the research basis for many of his
claims is slim. There’s not much evidence that there are exactly eight stages or that we pass
through them in the same order. For Erikson, the successful resolution of each stage
holds crucial implications for later in development. If we don’t solve the challenges posed
by earlier stages, we’ll experience difficulty solving the challenges posed by later stages.
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Emerging adulthood
period between 18-25 when many aspects of emotional development, identity, and personality solidify
51
Kohlberg’s moral development
Used several moral problems to see what principles people used to solve them. Kohlberg’s research indicated that most adults never get past conventional morality to achieve postconventional morality.
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Levels of Kohlberg’s moral development
First level, preconventional morality, is marked by a focus on punishment and reward. What’s right is what we’re rewarded for; what’s wrong is what we’re punished for.
The second level, conventional morality, is marked by a focus on societal values. What’s right
is what society approves of; what’s wrong is what society disapproves of.
The third level, postconventional morality, is marked by a focus on internal moral principles that may differ from conventional societal values. What’s right is what protects fundamental human rights
and values; what’s wrong is what contradicts these rights and values.
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Life transitions in adulthood
-Careers and job satisfaction
• Love and commitment
• Parenthood
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Midlife crisis
supposed phase of adulthood characterized by emotional distress about the aging process and an attempt to regain youth
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Empty nest syndrome
alleged period of depression in mothers following the departure of their grown children from the home
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Developmental psychology
-Study of how behaviour changes over the lifespan
-Nature (our genetic development) and nurture (environment we encounter) both play a powerful role in
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Gene environment interaction
-situation where the way genes affect a person depends on the environment they’re in
Ex; if a person has a genetic predisposition for depression, but they grew up in a supportive, loving environment. They might never show signs of depression.
But if they grew up in a stressful traumatic environment, the gene may turn on and lead to symptoms of depression
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Nature via nurture
-people with certain genetic predispositions tend to seek out environments that may get more likely those predispositions will show up
Ex: if someone is genetically predisposed to be musically, talented (nurture) their naturally drawn to music start hanging out with other music lovers maybe join a band or take lessons (nurture)
That environment enhances the musical ability which was already in their genes to begin with
-Your genes not you into situation to bring out those same genes even more
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Gene expression
-activation or deactivation of genes by environmental experiences through development
Ex: let’s say someone has a gene that predisposed them to obesity
If they grew up in a balanced food environment with healthy meals and regular activity, that gene might be not expressed
But if they grow up in a high calorie low nutrients environment with little physical activity that Jean might turn on increasing the risk for obesity so the environment, diet and lifestyle triggers, the expression of a gene that’s already there
-genetics: whether jeans are active is regulated day by day and moment by moment, environmental conditions
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Cross-sectional design
-research design that examines people of different ages at a single point in time
Obtaining a snapshot of each person at a single age
Ex: we assess some people when they’re 24 someone 47 others when they’re 63 and so on
-major problem: they don’t control for cohort effects: affects due to the fact that set of people who live during one time called cohorts can differ in some systematic way from sets of people who live during a different time
Ex: if those older than 60 years of age are including a conceptual design, they might not be as computer savvy as younger folks not because of their age, but because of the era in which they grew up in
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Longitudinal design
-Research design that examines development in the same group of people on multiple occasions overtime (tracks the development of the same group of participants over overtime)
-this design allows us to examine true developmental effects: changes overtime with an individual individuals as a consequence of growing older
-Problems: costly and time consuming, can result in attrition: participants dropping out of the study before it’s completed
Ex: starting with kids, aged five, collected data again at 10, 15 20 and 25
-same group of kids
62
Challenges studying human development
-Post hoc fallacy:
False assumption that because one event occurred before another event, it must have caused that event
Ex: if B comes after a then a must have caused B
Ex: if nearly 100% of serial killers drink milk as children it would be silly to conclude that milk drinking creates mass murderers
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By directional influences
-children’s experiences influence their development, but their development also influences. What the experience.
as children grow older, they play an increasingly active role in selecting their own environments
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Influence of early experiences
-the ideas of infant determinism (early experiences are profoundly influential) and childhood fragility (children are more vulnerable to stress) have not received much support
-children are much more resilient than originally believed
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Conception and prenatal development
-most dramatic changes occur during early prenatal development
-Prenatal: before birth
-Zygote: when a sperm cell fertilizes an egg
-after this three stages of development occur
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Stages of development
1. Germinal stage: zygote begins to divide and double forming a blastocyst: a ball of identical cells that haven’t yet begun to take on a specific function in a body part
-blastocyst keeps growing as cells continue to divide for the first week and a half or so after fertilization
-around the middle of the second week the cells begin to differentiate taking on different roles as the organs of the body begin to develop
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Embryonic stage
2. One cell start to assume different functions the blastocyst becomes an embryo.
-the embryonic stage continuous from the second to the eighth week of development during which limbs facial features and major organs begin to take shape
-during this stage, many things can go wrong in foetal development spontaneous miscarriages often occur when the embryo doesn’t form properly
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Fetal Stage:
By the ninth week, the major organs are established and the heart begins to beat this final milestone is called foetal stage because it’s the point out which embryo is a fetus
The fetus’s job is physical maturation and bulking up until birth
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Brain development
-the human brain begins to develop approximately 18 days after fertilization and continues to develop well into adolescence and early adulthood
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Obstacles to development
1.Teratogens: environmental factors that can exert a negative impact on prenatal development
Ex: smoking drugs, chickenpox
Alcohol consumption can lead to foetal alcohol spectrum
-learning disabilities delay in physical growth, facial malformations, and behavioural disorders
Genetic disruptions can form disorders: down syndrome or random errors in cell division
Prematurity : being born prior to 36 weeks can result in numerous problems
The less time in uterus, the greater chance of serious complications
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Infant motor development
-Infants are born with a large set of automatic motor behaviours (reflexes)
Suckling reflex: if we put something in a baby‘s mouth, including a finger, it’ll clamp it down and begin sucking
Rooting reflex: if we softly stroke a hungry infant cheek she automatically turn her head toward her hand and begin casting about it with her mouth
-these reflexes keep infants alive
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Motor behaviours
-bodily functions that occur as a result of self initiated, force that moves the bones and muscles
-children learn to reach and walk
-Physical, maturity and cultural and parenting practises all influence motor development
-regardless of when they occurred developmental milestones are always achieved in the same sequence
73
Adolescence
-transition between childhood and adulthood
-Puberty: achievement of social maturation, resulting in the potential to reproduce
-estrogens are higher in women and androgens are higher in men
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Physical development in adults
-most reach of physical peak in early 20s
-Strength, coordination, speed of cognitive process, and physical flexibility
-declines begin shortly after, including muscle, sensory processes, and fertility
For women , fertility declined sharply from 30 to 40 ending with menopause: termination of ministration, marking the end of a females reproductive potential
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Theories of cognitive development
1. How change happens
Some propose stage like changes in understanding (sudden jumps in understanding like hitting milestones) vs more continuous (gradual incremental changes in understanding)
2. How skills develop
Some adapt domain general account of development (cognitive changes happen across the board improvements in one area like memory helps with others like language or problem-solving)
All mental skills are linked and grow together vs domain specific (each area like math, language or social skills develop separately at different rates)
3. Source of learning
Different theorist focus on different sources of learning some models emphasize physical experience (moving around in the world)
Others social interaction (how parents and peers engage with them)
And others biological maturation (innate programming of certain mental capacities)
76
Jean
-attempted to identify the stages that children pass through on their way to adult like thinking
He was a stage theorist: propose that children’s thinking develops in big lips. Each stage is a major reorganization of how they understand the world after the jump there’s a stable period. Where they mostly stick with that way of thinking until the next big leap.
-he believed the final destination of cognitive development is the ability to read logically about hypothetic problems
-Period stages are domain general slicing across all areas of cognitive capacity thus a child capable of a certain level of abstract reason and mathematics can also achieve this level in spatial problem, swapping tasks
-children use assimilation to acquire new knowledge within stage: absorb knowledge into current structures
-when one can no longer assimilate new information accommodation occurs: process of altering a belief to make it more compatible with experience
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Assimilation and accommodation
Ex: a child knows about dogs: dogs are furry and have four legs
They see a new type of dog a poodle
They say that’s a dog because it fits into their current idea of a dog (assimilation)
Ex: the same child sees a cat for the first time it’s furry and has four legs to. They say dog but are told no that’s a cat now they realize not all furry for like animals or dogs.
They update their thinking that’s accommodation changing what they already know to fit new info
-children achieve equilibration, maintaining a balance between their experience of the world and their understanding of it through this way
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Piaget stages of development
1. Sensory motor (birth to two years)
-children are focussed on immediate physical experiences. They learn the world to their senses.
Key feature: object permanence: by the end of the stage, children realized the objects continue to exist, even when they can’t be seen heard or touched, before this, they think objects disappear if they can’t see them
Ex: a baby sees a toy and when it’s hidden under a blanket, they might not look for it not realizing it’s still there later they’ll search for showing the understand the toy still exist, even though they can’t see it
2. Pre-operational stage 2-7
-children can think beyond the present moment so they start to imagine things and think about the past or future but they’re thinking is still egocentric: they have a hard time understanding other people’s perspectives
-They also struggle with mental transformations, meaning they can’t easily reverse their actions in their head, like imagining, taking back a poor drink
Key feature: symbolic thinking: start using symbols like words and images to represent objects and experiences. Ex: a stick can become a sword in pretend play
Egocentrism: kids think everyone sees the world the way they do
Ex: a child sees a picture of a mountain from one side, and if asked with someone else sees from the other side, they’ll likely describe what they themselves see not realizing the other person has a different view
Concrete operational stage (7-11)
-kids can now perform mental transformations like reversing actions in their head
Ex: if you pour liquid from one glass to another, the understand, it’s still the same amount however they’re thinking is still grounded by concrete objects. They struggle to think abstractly or about hypothetical situations.
Key feature: conservation: children now understand that quantity doesn’t change just because the appearance of an object changes
Ex: if you have two equal pieces of clay roll, one into a ball and the other into a snake shape, a child in this stage will understand that the amount of clay hasn’t changed
4. Formal operation stage 11-adult)
Abstract and hypothetical thinking: kids cannot read logically about situations that don’t necessarily exist in the real world or in front of them
They can think about abstract concepts like justice, love, or freedom and engage in hypothetical reasoning, making conclusion based on abstract possibilities
Ex: a teenager can now think about moral dilemma and potential future outcomes without having direct experience of them like imagining how society would function if everyone told the truth all the time
SPCF
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Pros of Piaget
-exploring general, cognitive processes that explain multiple domains of knowledge
-learning is an active rather than a passive process
CONS
-development is less general and more domain specific
-Development is more continuous and less stage like
-Culturally biased methods: focussed on western educated samples
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Vygotski
-Theory focussed on social and cultural influences
Scaffolding: parent structure, environments for learning and then gradually remove them as children improve (providing initial assistance in children’s learning about gradually remove structure as children become more competent)
Ex: a teacher might demonstrate how to solve a problem with step-by-step. One students get comfortable with the process the teacher may give less guidance and instead provide hints of full instructions until the students can solve the problems themselves.
Zone of proximal development: phase of learning during which children can benefit from instruction
Ex: solving problems: if a child is trying to solve a math problem that’s slightly more difficult than what they’ve done before but with a bit of guidance like cancer or strategies they can figure it out that’s ZPD
-4 I got ski there are no domain general stages
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Cognitive changes in adolescence
-frontal lobes don’t fully a chair until late adolescence or early adulthood
-implications for impulse control and risk taking behaviour
-however, risk taking behaviour is also affected by other factors than impulse control
-more opportunities when young, know the risk, but don’t care
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Cognitive function in late adulthood
-aspects of cognitive decline
-overall speed of processing and free recall of information (being asked to generate items from memory)
Cured recall and cognition, of vocabulary and knowledge tasks, add crystallized intelligence (our accumulated knowledge and experience) tend to stay the same or increase
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Temperament
-easily appearing and largely genetic
Three major styles
-easy(40%)
-Difficult (10%)
-Slow to warm up (15%)
-approximately 10% of children may be behaviourally inhibited: infants that become frightened at the site of novel or unexpected stimuli, like unfamiliar faces, loud tones or little moving robots
-Infants with high levels of behavioural inhibition are at a height and risk for shyness and anxiety disorders in childhood adolescence and adulthood
-Infants with low levels of behavioural inhibition may be at increased risk for impulsive behaviours later in childhood
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Attachment
-strong, emotional connection we share with those whom we feel closest
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Imprinting
-the first thing that you see after hatching is called imprinting once the imprint on something or someone they become largely fixated on it and is unlikely to follow or bond with anything else
Imprinting only occurs during a critical period: 36 hours if the gosling don’t see their mothers until after that window close, they never imprinted on her or on anything else that mattered
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Rutters study of Romanian orphan
-longer stay in low quality orphanages is associated with poor outcomes
-Shorter stay (adopted out early six months) is associated with better outcomes
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Harlow study
-Harlow found that baby monkeys routinely went to wire mother’s for milk. They spent much more time with Terry cloth mothers. In addition, Harlow exposed monkeys to a scariest stimulus like a toy robot playing a drum. They were much more likely to run to the cherry cloth, mother and cling to her for reassurance.
Harlow term this phenomenon as contact comfort : positive emotions afforded by touch
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Attachment styles
-refer to how infants react when separated from primary caregiver
1. Secure attachment: infant explores the room, but checks to make sure Mom is watching and returns to Mom when the stranger enters react to Mom‘s departure by becoming upset, but greets her return with joy.
2. Insecure avoidant attachment: infant explores room independently without checking in with Mom and is indifferent to the entry of the stranger, shows no distress at Mom’s departure and displays little reaction upon her return
3. Insecure, anxious attachment: infant does not explore toys without mom‘s assistance shows distress when the stranger enters reacts to Mom‘s departure with panic and shows a mixed emotional reaction upon her return, simultaneously reaching for her yet squirming to get away after she picks him or her up
4. Disorganized attachment: reactor toys in the stranger and mom‘s departure, and returned with an inconsistent and confused set of responses.
89
Attachment styles
-show large, cultural differences
Subject to mono operations bias: dry conclusions based on a single measure
90
Parenting styles
-Permissive: tend to be lenient, a little discipline, very affectionate
-authoritarian: very strict, punishing, a little affection
-authoritative: supportive, but set clear and firm limits
-Uninvolved: neglectful and ignoring
-May not matter as much as one thought, as long as an average expectable environment is provided (basic needs are met)
-What matters most is if the parenting style is toxic (abusive) or a child is genetically predisposed towards impulsivity or violent behaviour
91
Other parenting issues
-influence of peers versus parents on social development
Father’s differ from mothers in several ways
-less attentive and affectionate towards babies
-spend less time with babies
-More time in a physical plate thus preferred as playmates
Impact of single parenthood on children is still unclear
-most children come out of divorce without long-term emotional damage
-the higher, the marital conflict, the better the outcome of the divorce tends to be
92
Identity development
-developing an identity (who we are, our goals and priorities) is a main challenge of adolescence
Erickson developed a comprehensive model
-composed of a series of stages, each character characterized by a psychosocial crisis (dilemma concerning an individuals relations to others)
-Influential but limited support
93
Kohlberg’s moral development
-used several moral problems to see what principles people use to solve them
Three major stages
1. Preconventional morality: focusses on punishment and reward.
Ex: he can get away with it vs he might get caught
2. Conventional morality: focus on societal values.
Ex: others will look down on him if he lets his wife die vs it’s against the law
3. Post conventional morality: focus on internal moral principles
Ex: protection of human life is a higher moral principle that can overall law against stealing vs stealing violates of basic social contract needed to preserve civilization
-Cobra concluded that all people pass through these stages in a fixed order although he acknowledged most adults never get past conventional morality to achieve post conventional morality
Criticisms:
-cultural bias: individualistic verse collectivist cultures
-Sex bias: justice versus caring orientations
